"Priyanka and I are friends"- Shahid

My gosh, how good-looking is Shahid!” exclaimed a friend when she spotted him at a drug store in suburban Mumbai. Yeah, that’s the effect Shahid Kapoor has on women. But the truth is, there’s more to the actor than meets the eye. Apart from the disarming charm, Shahid has a cohesive, strong sense of self…

That perhaps has helped him endure the past few years, which can well be dubbed as every actor’s nightmare. A few of his past releases did not work in his favour even though he’s blessed with the looks of a matinee idol and the soul of an artiste. But he has emerged unscathed. “A decade ago, I would stand under the hoardings in Juhu and wonder, ‘Kya ek din mere bhi hoardings yahan lagenge?’ I’d give auditions wondering if I’d ever get a chance. And now 10 years later, I have done 20 films, worked with some phenomenal filmmakers. Yeah, I’ve done some crappy movies too. But I am fortunate enough to still be getting good offers,” smiles he. “Even today, I can do a solo-hero film. So what’s not to be grateful about?” he questions.

Continuing in the same intense tone, he says, “Who hasn’t had flops? Every actor has. But people expect me to do better and that’s a good thing.” No, he is not looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses. “I’m being practical. I see things in the right context. I need to explore my potential and do what people believe I can do. I am working towards it. I’m sure I’ll get there soon. Also, if I am being criticised, it means people are expecting better from me. Or else, they wouldn’t care to say anything.”His positivity is inspiring. It comes from the fact that Shahid believes only you can help yourself. “After the bad hours, you just have to snap out of it and move on. There are more important things in life. You can’t make negativity a permanent state of mind. That way you’re only messing up your life. You need to know when to stop giving a certain thing too much importance,” he pauses. “The bigger you get, the more criticism you will invite. The higher you climb, the harder you will fall. That’s how life is. You need to learn to take that fall. And if you can’t take that fall, don’t try to climb high.”

He’s taken a fall and how! In fact, the actor was rumoured to have even gone through a major introspective phase after the debacles of Mausam and Teri Meri Kahaani. “No, I didn’t go through any such thing,” he cuts in. “It’s all crap! I wanted to get on the set the next day. When a film of yours doesn’t do well, the first thing you want to do is go out there and prove yourself. The only thoughts that crossed my mind then were, ‘Okay, I didn’t get these right, give me another chance, I will get it right the next time’,” asserts he. Unfortunately, for him, his subsequent films didn’t start on time. The actor, who had signed on three projects couldn’t get back to work, as they kept getting delayed. One of them was Yash Raj Films’ recently released, Shuddh Desi Romance. His opting out of the project even led to rumours of his fallout with Aditya Chopra. “Yaar, the film got delayed for over six months. It was eating into the dates of my other two films. That’s all. I was so frustrated at that time because I felt like a Derby horse who couldn’t race because his door just wouldn’t open,” he laughs and continues, “Honestly, in the past three years I had two releases which didn’t do well. So everything went upside down and I couldn’t control anything. But when my films started getting delayed, I thought I should at least get on the set, have a release and get a chance to race before getting trashed.”

Now that he’s back in the race – what with critics and the audiences calling Phata Poster Nikhla Hero one of his career’s best performances, the actor couldn’t be happier. “I guess life puts you through certain situations to teach you things. And after darkness, there’s always light. I am happy I did this mad Rajkumar Santoshi comedy, it was a great role for me.”

Ask him if it’s better to play to the gallery than take risks in the industry and pat comes his reply, “Regardless of what kind of films are doing well, this is the kind of genre every actor has to do at some point in his career. Firstly, because it’s meant for a mass audience and secondly, because it helps you explore yourself as an actor,” he emphasises. “As an actor, I need to go out there and do everything. That’s my job. If you want to grow, evolve and experiment, you have to do these things. Phata Poster Nikhla Hero was as much an experiment for me as Kaminey was, as I had never done anything like this before.”

Coming to something more personal, his love life for instance, Shahid proclaims that he’s currently single. “It’s great being single yaar. All through my 20s, I was in relationships. I was this nice, committed boyfriend right after I got popular. But now I can say that I am living my 20s in my 30s. Ever since I have crossed 30, I have been single. Eighty per cent of these link-up rumours are not true.” But 30s is the time one settles down, isn’t it? “Par mera toh sab ulta chal raha hai, what do I do?” he giggles. Question Shahid on his on and off equation with Priyanka Chopra and he smiles, “We are friends. We have always been friends.”

Undeniably, Sasha wears his charm lightly. This Kapoor boy may well be one of the most underrated boys the industry has seen. Of the strong belief that the industry has been his salvation and not his downfall, Shahid is only focussing on his work. “I don’t know any better. I am so occupied with what I am doing that I haven’t had much time to think about tomorrow or day after. Acting is a huge part of who I am, so I am looking forward to my movies. R... Rajkumar and Vishal Sir’s (Bhardwaj) film (based on Hamlet) are next in line for me.” Well, it’s time we took this Kapoor seriously. Don’t you agree?